Judiciary Chief: Time for US to Show Honesty

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran's Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq Amoli Larijani described President Rouhani’s recent remarks at the United Nations General Assembly as “graceful and logical”, adding that it’s now Washington’s turn to drop hostility and turn words into action.

“Indeed, this is the Iranian nation which awaits sincere behavior from the Americans and westerners,” Ayatollah Larijani said in a gathering of senior judicial authorities here in Tehran on Wednesday, and added that the White House should prove in practice it is committed to its word and drop “hostile and contradictory behavior” towards Iranians.

In his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Rouhani said the Iranian nation was ready for cooperation with the international community and all rational players based on equal footing and mutual respect.

In his hotly anticipated address at the United Nations, Iran's president offered immediate negotiations aimed at removing any reasonable concerns over his country's nuclear program.

"Our national interests make it imperative that we remove any and all reasonable concerns about Iran's peaceful nuclear programme," he said, adding that Iran "is prepared to engage immediately in time-bound and result-oriented talks to build mutual confidence and the removal of mutual uncertainties with full transparency."

Ayatollah Larijani further reiterated Iran’s inalienable right to peaceful nuclear energy and asserted that the Iranian nation will never retreat from its stance on the nuclear energy program.

“The Iranian nation’s goals have not changed. Although the tactics might change, nobody can and is entitled to give up the nation’s nuclear rights,” the judiciary chief pointed out.

He then expressed the hope that the roadblocks that exist in the way of negotiations would be removed through “rational behavior of western countries.”

In his speech at the UN General Assembly, Rouhani had asserted that the Iranian nuclear energy program has always been a peaceful one, saying, "This has been, and will always be, the objective of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

He said the only way to resolve the nuclear issue is for the international community to respect Iran's inalienable right to peaceful nuclear program.